Snakes

It’s not every day that Toronto bylaw officers have to swoop into a Toronto home and extract 38 snakes.

It’s not every day that Toronto bylaw officers have to swoop into a Toronto home and extract 38 snakes.

In a rare seizure, city officials executed a search warrant on a North York home Tuesday, nabbing 20 live snakes and 18 dead ones. They have dubbed them “extremely dangerous.”

One man in his mid-40s faces charges under the Toronto Municipal Code. The city won’t release his name.

Professionals from the Toronto Zoo had to be called in, to bag the snakes and contain them properly before transportation.

“From all accounts, (the snakes) were reasonably properly housed,” said Tracey Cook, executive director of municipal licensing and standards. “They weren’t slithering around in an apartment or something like that. They were in a single family home, in a room that was secured, in containers.”

The dead snakes were discovered in a freezer. It is unclear how or when they died.

The city tipped its hat to Canada Border Services Agency in a Thursday news release. The agency told them a number of venomous snakes imported from Asia were heading their way.